


Final Moments

by Sangerin



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: AU-Endgame, F/M, Post-Endgame
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-03
Updated: 2013-07-03
Packaged: 2017-12-17 13:44:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 746
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/868222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sangerin/pseuds/Sangerin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Her books, her coffee set, her plants - all the trinkets and knick-knacks that have filled her shelves are ready for transport. The shelves are empty, her desk, save for the built in monitor, is bare.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Final Moments

**Author's Note:**

> This is a result of the "Braga Challenge" - to write a final scene for Voyager with which both the author as a JetCer, and TPTB, exemplified by Braga, would be happy. To be honest, I’d be content with less than this. On the other hand, I'm not sure TPTB would accept the few moments of tension in this.

She takes a last, slow look around the ready room. At one side, packing modules are stacked haphazardly. Her books, her coffee set, her plants - all the trinkets and knick-knacks that have filled her shelves are ready for transport. The shelves are empty, her desk, save for the built in monitor, is bare. And in the window floats the green, blue and white marble that is Earth.

Her silent farewells complete, she takes a step towards the door. Then suddenly, it all becomes too much, the reality of the situation bursts in on her, and she feels her legs give way. She sits on the step that leads to the upper level of the room, props her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands.

It is like this, dry-eyed and staring at nothing, that he finds her.

‘Kathryn?’ he asks gently. ‘Are you here?’

A long-forgotten moment drifts into her mind, and the corners of her mouth lift in a slight smile. ‘No - I left an hour ago.’

He sits down next to her, leaning against the wall. ‘You did it,’ he says.

‘I did it,’ she echoes. ‘Seven years…can you believe that? It seems like a moment.’

‘It seems like a lifetime,’ he counters.

She nods. ‘That too.’ After a comfortable silence, she speaks again. ‘I remember when you transported onto the bridge, and Tuvok left you and stood beside me. You were furious!’

‘I remember you facing up to B’Elanna about destroying the array. You were amazing,’ he smiles.

"Beating Tom in pool at Sandrines,’ she says.

‘No,’ he replies, ‘That was you.’

‘I never said it wasn’t,’ she says. ‘Outwitting the Kazon.’

‘Escaping the Borg,’ he says. ‘Not too many people can say that. Helping a Borg regain her individuality.’

‘Turning a parolee into a responsible member of society…’

‘…and an angry half-Klingon into a confidant, happy woman,’ he finishes her sentence. ‘You turned an angry warrior into a man of peace,’ he says quietly.

‘And you turned a Starfleet brat into her own woman,’ she replies. Again there is a silence. ‘What else have we done?’ she asks finally.

‘Made alliances with 8472 and the Hirogen, raised four children, survived abandonment, macro viruses, micro viruses, assimilation, temporal anomalies,’ he pauses. ‘Should I go on?’

By now she is smiling broadly. ‘Favourite memory,’ she orders.

‘Do I have to?’ he asks, frowning when he sees her nod. ‘Of the entire seven years…’ he hesitates, knowing he is taking his life into his hands. ‘Watching you play Queen Arachnia,’ he says.

The smile on her face turns into a chuckle and then a fully-blown laugh. ‘I knew I should have ordered you all to sickbay to have your memories of that wiped!’

‘Sorry, Kathryn, ‘ he says, ‘Even the Doc’s superior medical skills couldn’t wipe that memory from my mind. What about yours?’

‘My what?’

‘Favourite memory. I told you mine…’ he says.

‘Let me think. I’m not sure I can choose one. Everything is tinged somehow - with sadness, stress, fright…’

‘Captain Kathryn Janeway frightened? Never!’ he exclaims, looking shocked.

She makes a face at him. ‘You know me better than that, Chakotay.’ She pauses. ‘Then again…’

‘Then again, you’ve never been frightened?’ he asks, when her sentence drifts away incomplete.

‘No - I think I’ve chosen my favourite memory. A sunny afternoon on Venice Beach in the late 20th century, with nothing to do but wander along the sidewalk and talk with my best friend.’

He smiles, but doesn’t speak.

‘It may have only lasted ten minutes,’ she rationalises, ‘but while it lasted, it was wonderful.’ Their eyes meet, softened by nostalgia.

A comm signal shatters the silence, and the tension. ‘Kim to Janeway.’

‘Janeway here.’

‘Captain, Admiral Hayes has arrived.’

‘Thank you, Mr Kim. I’ll be on my way shortly. Janeway out.’ She stands up. ‘I guess this is it,’ she says, helping him up from the step. ‘I’m going to miss this room - this ship,’ she said, looking around the room again.

‘I know you will, Kathryn.’ He stops, taking his own final glance around the room, then holds out his arm. ‘The Admiral is waiting.’

She loops her hand around his elbow, and pats his forearm gently with the other hand. ‘Let’s go.’

They walk out of the room together. A few moments later, the transporter effect catches the packing modules and whisks them away, leaving the room entirely empty. The blue-green planet hangs unmoving in the window.


End file.
